There’s plenty of pain to go around for everyone and everyone has their own to deal with. In my extended family, the Anodyne… the painkiller… has taken many forms including food, gambling, alcohol, drugs, and my personal favorite, cold indifference. So, what to do? How to deal? It seems pretty simple, either we face down our fucking demons or we die having lived less of a life than we should have, clutching a bottle of our own personal Anodyne.

OK, so I wasn’t quite as colorful in my Wilco post, but that’s one of the descriptions used by Marc Hogan in his review of “Kicking Television: Live in Chicago.” Speaking of live Wilco, I found a cool video filmed at a German festival in the summer of 2004. It includes “Muzzle of Bees” and “At Least That’s What You Said.” Finally, the band has a few shows coming up, some pretty close to me!

04-17 Bloomington, IN – IU Auditorium
04-19 Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium
04-20 Providence, RI – Meehan Auditorium
04-21 Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
04-22 Williamsburg, VA – William and Mary Hall

For a few months now, there have been no comments here. Not even those chicken-shit anonymous types like one ripping me for ripping New Orleans looters. Now I know why. Pal Dave told me he left two comments and received a message that I had to “approve” them. Somehow, a “moderate comments” option was turned on and I found ten or so comments waiting for my approval. I approved all but one which contained someone’s name. Hey, I need to protect the guilty and the innocent… So, comments are back… Blast away!

Since 1995 I’ve been a Wilco fan, but have not been true. I’m pretty sure Jeff and I saw their first New England shows on the heels of “AM,” and we caught another a year later when they toured to support their sophomore effort, “Being There.” After that I went astray. I admit I didn’t put any effort into their “Mermaid Avenue” releases with Billy Bragg, but those records are still there to be discovered and enjoyed…or not. In any event, it’ll be brand new.

In ’99, Jeff gave me an advance copy of “Summerteeth,” but it didn’t grab me. More pages were ripped from calendars and Jeff Tweedy kept on writing and playing brilliant songs. In 2002, a newly constituted Wilco released “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and a documentary of its recording, “I am Trying to Break Your Heart.” The film also chronicles the last days of multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett with the band and the dumping of the band by Reprise Records after Tweedy refused to compromise over musical changes requested by the label. Over what seemed to be minor artistic differences, Bennett and Wilco were both told to hit the bricks. A couple weeks ago, I watched the film in high-definition, followed by an HD performance by the band on “Austin City Limits.” (ACL performance of I’m a Wheel”)

After immersing myself in the combined 150 minutes of Wilco-age, I just shook my head (really, I actually gave it a shake) and thought, “what a brilliant band.” Since then I’ve been on a post-1999 Wilco bender… “Summerteeth,” “Foxtrot,” their latest, “A Ghost is Born,” and “Kicking Television: Live In Chicago” recorded over four nights in 2005 on their home court in Chicago at the Vic Theatre.

I still have the film and ACL show on my DVR, so feel free to come watch, but don’t do a “pop in,” call first. Until then, here’s a short sample of “Outta Mind, Outta Sight” from “Being There,” and a great site for Wilco lyrics called A Sea Black with Ink.

What a brilliant band…

These were outstanding. Thanks Barb.

I continue to be amazed at the picture quality of my plasma TV. BC-Nova in the NCAA tourney will rock tonight. I fretted for months and actually ordered LG and Panasonic models, both of which fell through for different reasons. Finally, after months of longing, I threw down on the NEC 42XR4. I thought I’d suffer at least some degree of buyer’s remorse, but I really haven’t and this week PC Magazine helped further validate my decision, calling it, “the most impressive a 42-inch plasma display panel that PC Magazine has tested to date.” Um, OK.

Unfortunately, it appears women are not so taken with the big unit. Recently I had a female guest over for dinner and I was hoping for a Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally” moment, but there was none. Um, I mean over the TV… This morning I found out why. As I was perusing my morning Bloglines over coffee, I read a blog posting by Regina Lynn. She writes a column in Wired Magazine called “Sex Drive.” Anyway, she claims, “98 percent of women couldn’t care less about the men’s “hi-tech tools” — what the women respond to is the communication and the interaction they can have with these men.” Communication? Is that what they want?

I love “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Larry David is a sick, sick individual, but I love him! Mr. David, of course, is the co-creator of “Seinfeld,” and the character George Costanza is supposedly based on him. The series itself showcases the same humor “about nothing” that made “Seinfeld” priceless. Plus, on HBO, Larry can say “F&^% Huuuuugh,” Richard Lewis can say “F&^% me,” and Susie (Larry’s managers wife) can say whatever the f&^% she wants!

OK, so besides the “f-bombs,” there are great comic moments and very clever plot twists. Basicly, the show follows Larry around LA and documents his uncanny ability to get himself in painful-to-watch situations where he manages to piss off both friends and strangers alike. Here, Larry manages to really irritate his wife, Cheryl, as she reads a draft of their renewed wedding vows:

Cheryl: “We’ll love each other throughout this lifetime, but after death through all eternity.”
Larry: You mean this is… this is continuing into the afterlife?
Cheryl: Yeah, that’s the idea. Do you have a problem with that?
Larry: Well, I… I thought this was over at death. I didn’t know we went into eternity together. Isn’t that what it said in…”’til death do us part, ” I thought it was…
Cheryl: Do you have a problem with eternity?
Larry: Well…
Cheryl: We finally found each other, Larry, and we’re celebrating this for all eternity.
Larry: I guess I had a different plan for eternity. I thought… I thought I’d be single again.

What’s really fascinating about the show is that it’s unscripted. Before filming, the cast attends a production meeting where the plot and other details are reviewed, but then it’s a free for all! I’ve finished 3 seasons and 30 episodes on DVD, and season 4 arrives from Netflix tomorrow!

I’m presently going through a little art envy. My pal Jeff and wife Stephanie are on a ten day excursion of London and Paris, while my brother and sister-in-law leave soon for Rome. They have art and stuff there…

This image caught my eye recently. It’s from an exhibit noting the biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC. The artist, Marilyn Minter has created a series of billboards around the city depicting less than ideal images of women’s shapely legs upon glittering high-heels. Think “Carrie” from “Sex and the City” if she had the misfortune of receiving a muddy shower from a friendly city taxi. I think the billboards illustrate that we need to look beyond the hair, makeup and pedicures if we want to see what’s really going on.

As for satisfying my personal art-Jones, a trip to the galleries on Newbury Street with the vacationing Megan on Friday should do the trick. She can get her nails done there, right?

If this works, I can now post from the LeoTreo…